


Endgame (Lady Liberty edition)

by silverwing33



Series: The Unbelievable Lives Of Li [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, F/M, Marvel - Freeform, Sentience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2019-10-31 19:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17855519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverwing33/pseuds/silverwing33
Summary: What happens if you place one person from one point in time to another. Would they be the right person at the right time or the worst?





	1. Chapter 1

I had lost everything. I didn't have much to begin with, but now I was completely alone. So, I started to get more involved with what was left of the community after The Snap. One of these things was going to group therapy. And that's how I met Steve Rogers. He had always been a guy of great importance to me although we have never actually met. 

He sat there in the community hall and he looked angry and depressed. I couldn't say I blamed him, some of the group members blamed the Avengers and superheroes in general. It was horrible! 

“So, much for you guys! I thought you were supposed to handle stuff like this! What were you doing?! Another PSA?! Getting a manicure?! Thanks to you I lost my wife and half of my family!” 

This guy was really getting on my last nerve. Anything that Steve said was shut down by someone saying it was his fault. And he sat there and listened to them blame him for everything. Well, I wasn't going to let this happen. 

“Hey! leave him alone Don't you think hes lost people too?! The avengers are always out there putting their lives on the line for us! Dont you think they have family and friends at home worrying if  _ theyre  _ going to come back?! Theyre heroes, but theyre also people! And the accords stripped them of their human rights, theyve been villified and torn down and torn apart, is it any wonder they struggled out there in that last battle?! They had no support from anyone and the government just buried their heads!”, i turned to look at Steve looking at the ground by his feet, he knew what i was saying was true, and i continued, because i felt he didnt to hear this part most of all. “He has every right to be here and not to be bullied or held accountable for what happened. Lay blame where its due on that purple space alien!  **He's** the reason you lost your families, your pets, colleagues and friends, not him! This guy sitting here needs you, just like we all need each other for support to deal with the loss we all feel. So give him a break! Let him talk, let him grieve and mourn with the rest of the group, because this guy has lost so much even before The Snap! He needs this, he needs us!”, by this point, i had everyone full attention, including steve, rogers who seemed surprised that someone spoke up in his defense. In return, i gave what hoped looked like a warm, reassuring smile. 

 

After group we walked out as a cluster, some sectioned off to walk home together or to offer lifts. No one spoke to me or Steve, so we ended up accidentally walking together to the curb outside the centre. I've never been good with people and had a tendency in the past to avoid interacting with people as much as possible. Not that i disliked people, but rather they took a dislike to me. I've been called weird and awkward my whole life ever since i was a kid, because of what i wore and how i talked. 

 

He spoke first. “Hey...i just wanted to say thanks back there. Nice to hear someone who still believes in us.” He looked so sad talking to me. 

“Dont listen to guys like that! Theyre just angry and in pain. I get it, its frustrating not being able to do anything and trying to understand why this happened and what actually happened. But it doesnt give them the right to take it out on you.” 

“No, youre right...i guess it doesnt, but it still doesnt stop them though.” He replies with a tight smile to his face. 

“No...but...i hope it doesnt put you off coming back. I met what i said back there. You need help just like the rest of us. So, please come back next week.” I ask him shyly, as i shuffled my feet. 

He smiles a little more warmly and his face relaxes, “We'll see… whats your name?” He beckons. 

“Li. Well, actually its Liberty, Liberty Riley, but most folks call me Li.” I stuff my hands in my pocket and rocks back and forth on the heel and ball of my foot. 

“Li...thats a nice name. I'll think about what you said and see about next week. It was nice meeting you.” 

And with that, he turned to walk away. 

 

“You knew him, you know?” I called after him. He turned and looked back. 

“Who?” 

Back in the group, i spoke about the last remaining person in my life. Someone i had known since i was a kid, growing up. He was my only friend and like a brother to me. Even when i had nothing, i had Sam. 

“My friend. The one i talked about in group earlier. His name was Sam, Sam Wilson. He said you were friends. He actually wanted us to meet….. but i didnt think that was a good idea.” 

“How come? Wait...you know Sam?!” I had his full attention now and he was walking back towards me with a confused look on his face. 

“I'm not real good with people. I'm kinda shy and people tend to judge me when they meet me. And i didnt want... _ sigh….. _ ” I couldnt finish, so i turned and began to walk away. 

“Hey! wait a minute...why would i judge you? You seem fine to me!” That made me smile! 

“I dont know! But they do!” I say brightly, but also kinda sadly. 

“Well, i dont know why that is. But i wont. So you knew Sam.” 

“mmhmm, we sorta grew up together. He lived next door to me in Brooklyn for a while before his family moved, but we kept in contact and he would come and visit me on the bus. We've always been sorta inseperable. I mean, growing up his whole family believed that we would end up getting married and stuff, but it was never like that between us. But it didnt make it any less important. He actually introduced me to my late husband.” 

“....Riley….Youre THAT Li?! Ohhh! Yeah, i know you now! Yeah, Sam mentioned you a few times! Youre an artist!” 

“Yeah, thats me! I was an artist, but...its been difficult finding work, so i've been working at the centre, giving art lessons, but...i was told yesterday that my class is going to be cut.” 

“Oh no! Why?!”

“Lack of funding, and apparently its not a crucial class, so…” 

He groaned and shook in head in reponse. “Thats a real shame. Is there anything i can do?” 

“No, not really im afraid. Hey, erm….i dont suppose youd like to get some coffee sometime. If youre not coming back to group, you can talk to me instead.” 

_ What am i doing?! This isnt me! Does this sound like im asking him out?! Oh god! please say yes, no, wait, please say no!  _ Outwardly, i just cringed. 

“Sure, I'd love to,” He said as his eyes lit up brightly with a smile. 

“Okay...erm...i'm staying at Sams place, i think you have his number…?”

“Yep, i do. I'll give you a call and arrange something” 

“okay!” I say brightly, feeling my face light up too. 

_ Not a date, not a date, not a date!  _

 

And with that, we went our seperate ways for the night. But over the next few weeks, we spent a lot of time together. I told him about my late husband Jack and my son who i lost a year afterwards and how i was struggling with losing them, but losing Sam was the last straw. I told him how lost and empty i felt. And he told me about Bucky and Sam and how he felt losing them. Bucky was the worst as he felt like it was his fault, that he had continuously failed him and put him in danger, which resulted in losing him over and over. My heart went out to him and consequently, we got quite close. He told me he wasnt sure what to so with himself now. Do the avengers carry on? Does he? Are they still heroes? Are they better off not being heroes? So many questions and uncertainty. I told him, follow what your heart tells you deep down. Be true to what matters. And dont lose hope. 

 

So it didnt surprise me when he told me that the avengers were getting back together to talk about what theyre going to do next and where theyre heading now. I was proud of him for that, for not giving up. He came to see me one last time with flowers in hand. Thanked me for my support and advice and made sure i had his number to contact him on. Before leaving i gave him my pendant of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost things, in hope that one day he will find all that hes lost again. And with a kiss on his cheek and one of my forehead, he was whisked into a car, with a tuneful beep of the car horn, he was gone. 

 

I didnt let him see, but i was crying. I was still completely alone. I wondered back into the house, picked up my basket of laundry and went out to the backyard to hang up my washing. I tried to push all the bad, negative thoughts away and i got as far as putting up the bed sheet at the bottom of the basket when i heard it. 

 

It was a strange whooshing, fizzing sound. I looked down at my feet to see a circle of firey spark, that type you would expect to see at the end end of a firework. Before i could step away, the ground opened up and i fell straight through and landed in a room i had never seen before. 

 

“Thats her!” 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How? What? Why? When?!

A man swept past me with a billowing red velvet cloak and disappeared into thin air. 

 

The room was old fashioned looking, from the second world war. There was a lot of dark wood furniture, old photos hung up on the dark green coloured wallpapered walls. “Ahem..”, my attention was drawn away and I turned back to see an earlier version of Steve and Peggy Carter. They both looked at me expectantly. 

“Erm...h-....”, all three of us stood in awkward silence. 

“Well someone has to say something, we can't just stand here all day!”, Peggy blurted out. 

“I think you just did”, Steve said, turning his head towards her. 

“I don't understand. How...what I am I doing here?!”

“Apparently you're here to help us win the war,” said Peggy, folding her arms and regarded me sternly. 

“You're really terrifying when you do that!”, I quipped and gave a small smile. I missed Peggy! In her later years, we had become friends after I visited England to interview for the book I was writing on the Howling Commandos. Seeing her in her younger self was quite extraordinary. 

“When i do what?!”, she retorted, unfolding her arms she walked towards me. 

“Nevermind. I'm here to help. But how was I brought here and who was that guy before?!”, I furrowed my brow, feeling completely confused.

“A Dr Strange. You're Li Riley, yes?”, Steve asked me. 

“Yes. But I don't know any Dr Strange, so I don't quite know how he knows me.”, this was getting more and more puzzling by the minute. 

“Well he certainly seemed to know you”, Peggy spoke up, regarding me with interest. 

“Right...did he say exactly how I was to help at all?”, I pouted and raised my eyebrows. This was absurd! 

“You know of two events that are to happen that sends a ripple through time and space, that needs to set things to right in the future. Apparently, you know what that means. Do you?”

The Snap! Of course! But how?! And what were these two events?! The only one that stuck out that made any sense was when Steve crash landed the Valkyrie. So that must be one! But what was the other?! 

“Yes, I think so. I think I know what one of those events are. But I don't know what the other is. Did this doctor say at all what they were?”, I inquired. 

“No. Just that we are not to ask you anything about future events. But to trust you. You say you know one of the events but not the other”, Peggy stated and sat down at the large mahogany conference table. 

“Yes. Hmm...i'm sure it will become obvious when the time arrives”, I hoped! 

“Well, that's reassuring!”, Steve sat down heavily in another chair further down the table. Never in my life have I felt more useless than at that moment standing before two people I held in the highest regard looking at me with such disappointment. I knew they expected some grand hero to arrive, but instead, they get me. 

 

In the end, I was given a room to stay in at the camp. It was stripped down to its barest essentials and the bed was a standard army camp bed with extra uncomfortable squeaking springs underneath. 

I was to be given some chores to do and report to Peggy, Steve or the Colonel when I had thought of something important concerning the war that they needed to be informed of. Which translated to, we're going to keep you out the way until you're useful. 

 

A couple of days go by, and on the fourth day, I was helping the camps cook prepare for the evening meal time when I heard something. 

 

In a nearby room i hear Steve with the howling commandos planning a mission. I listened carefully at the door and kept out of sight, not to be seen. 

“Once we reach this ridge here, we will zoom down the zip wire onto the train…” 

He was planning on infiltrating the secret Hydra train! I looked back into the room. Bucky! 

 

_ I need to stop Bucky from falling from the train! That was the second event! Of course! _

_ But how?! _

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now or never, will Li think of something to save Bucky from his fate?!

I couldn't sleep. How was I going to do this?! There had to be some way!  _ Focus...what do you remember?  _ Well, for starters a wall in one of the train compartments was blown out from an explosion, which is where Sergeant Barnes fell from.  _ Right! what else?  _ He ran out of bullets.  _ Alright! So, I need to smuggle him some extra bullets for his rifle and….  _ Damn, what else?! 

 

When dawn came, I still hadn't thought of the final part of my plan. The crucial part. How to prevent him from falling into the river below! 

 

I didn't have long till they would set out on the journey that day. I needed to move fast. 

The first thing would be to sneak into the armoury. It was still dark outside, most likely there wouldn't be anyone around right now. Now would be a perfect time! 

 

Creeping out of my room, I snuck down the corridor barefooted and opened the door to the outside carefully and quietly, leaving it ajar behind me.  _ Please no wind, please no wind!  _

 

Staying low to the ground I avoided being seen through the windows of where the soldiers slept in their bunks.  _ Easy, easy, stealthy kitty!  _

I just needed to make it around the corner and I'd be home free! 

 

Yes! There it was! It was a medium-sized shack indistinct from the others around it. To an outsider, it would've been hard to miss. But the mess hall canteen wasn't that far away and I had seen various officers go in and out of it during the day. At certain times it was guarded by two soldiers to stop people thieving inside. Like me! But at night- A light shines round and nearly catches me. Damn, I forgot about the guys up there in the watchtowers. Periodically at night, they keep a gaze of the camp and surrounding land around it. During blackouts, they survey the grounds with hand-held torches and lanterns. Both are very tricky to not get caught by!

 

Leaning up by the wall of the nearby bunker, I very carefully creep up to the armoury and reach for the handle of the door. 

 

_ IT'S LOCKED! NO!  _

 

“4 hours sleep! That's all! How they expect us to do our duty on 4 hours sleep…” 

The other man yawns and nods with a groan. 

The guards! I thought they were only on duty during the day! I didn't know they also did night watch too!

“Hey, Bill! Come here, there's something I need to show you! Just dont show anyone else, alright?!” 

“What is it?” 

Poking my head round the corner i see the glistening metal of keys in one of the guards hands as he opened up the door to the armoury. With a click and dull metallic screeching sound, they went inside.  What were they upto?!  Wait! The door was still open. Maybe i could just...sneak inside behind them… I darted inside and hid in the corner behind some sandbags, “Check her out! Huh?!” 

I froze where i squatted.  _ Oh no!  _

“Not bad! My mavis has got nicer ones though!” 

They both started snickering.  _ Oh, thank goodness theyre talking about...oh ewww theyre looking at a dirty magazine! ugh!  _ A sudden noise from outside made the guards jump and scrabble outside. There was a moment silence before the morning bugle was played.  _ Oh, crud!  _ It was dark inside, but the sun was beginning to rise and i could make out shapes of various boxes and guns on racks. Hmm… 

 

Finally, i found the small box of bullets i needed. One should be enough. Shouldnt it?! Hmmm, anything else would be too noticeable. One it is! What else?! 

I shuffled around, but a lot of the boxes were nailed shut. The only opened one had some explosives in. That wouldnt help! No, i need a rope or something. Theres got to be one in here at the very least. 

I got down on all fours and started to search around. Outside the soldiers started to rouse and fall in for the morning line up. Getting out of here was going to be near impossible! The only good part was that it was starting to get lighter, making it easier to identify things as the early morning sun started to peek through the small window at the back of the bunker. 

 

And thats when i saw it!  _ Genius!  _

It was a grappling hook gun! Yes! It was perfect! Keeping the gun on himself, he could fire it into the other side of the train wall and with Steves help, manage to get himself back inside! It wasn't foolproof, but it seemed like the best idea. And looking outside and seeing Steve load things up in the truck, this seemed like the only idea she was going to get. All i needed to do now was find Bucky! But where?! 

 

I clambered up to the window by stepping on the boxes piled up below and hoped i didnt set anything off. The window was small, but large enough for me to climb out of. I looked around and slowly opened the window. Peeking outside i was lucky to see no one else around.  _ Oh, thank goodness!  _ I dropped out the gun onto the ground below with a thick heavy THUD and started to ease myself out of the window with my feet and legs going first. So far so good! 

 

I was about half way out when i felt a pair of hand catch me at my waist and lift me the rest of the way out. I gasped in surprise and spun round in alarm. I was caught! But my shock turned into relief as i came face to face with a puzzled, but the amused face of Sergeant Barnes. “Whatcha doing?!”, he asks, trying to keep a straight face.  I grab the gun at my feet and with my other hand i grab at his jacket and tug him round the corner out of sight and earshot of anyone else. “Good morning to you too!”, he chuckled. “Li, what are you doing?!”

 

“Buck...you save someones life today. A good man! I didnt know when you guys were leaving till last night when i overheard about the train.” 

“Who? How? Are you sure?” 

“Three very good answers, but we dont have enough time! Here, you need this”, i hand him the grappling hook gun and shoved my hand into the pocket of my dress to get the bullets for his rifle. “And these!”, i tucked the box into his top pocket and patted it gently. 

“Where did you….Youre going to get in a lot of trouble for this!” His face had a worried and serious expression etched all over it. 

“It's worth it! Besides what they gonna do...im not even born yet!”, i quip. He didnt look impressed. “You have to believe me. Keep this on you at all times. Especially on that train! Put a strap round it and keep it close to you. Its extremely important, you hear me?!”, my face was so close to his. My eyes met his and his nervous breath met mine. In this close proximity, i felt he understood what i was saying. He sharply looked away and i could see his jaw flex with nervousness. “Its going to be okay. Just keep this close. And take care of yourself out there! Thats all! I'll be waiting for you to come back.”, i have him what i hoped to be a warm smile and leaned in to hug him. His arms tightened around me and he rested his chin on my shoulder. He was scared. And he had every right to be. I didnt want to scare him anymore by telling him what happens. And i hoped that what i provided was enough! 

 

_ Was it enough? Should i tell him? Stop him from going?  _ It was impossible to know what might happen on that train if he didnt go. No, i needed to keep the variables minimal for this to work. He needed to go. I hated that, but i knew deep down for it to be true. 

 

“Alright. Alright! I'll take it. And be your hero and come back and tell you all about it! Just you need to do something for me in the mean time..”, he pointed a finger at me and stared me dead in the eye. 

“Which is…”

“Stay out of trouble! You hear me?! No more sneaking around stealing things!” 

“I wont! I just needed to do this, thats all. I promise to be trouble free!”, i beamed at him with my hands clasped behind my back.  _ Please come back.  _

“Good! You better! Be a good girl for me!”, he called as he walked away, giving me a wave before disappearing round the corner out of sight. 

  
I gave a few seconds before following him round the corner to see him get in the back of the truck with the rest of his squad. Then with a couple of beeps of the horn, they drove away out of the camp. And a wave of dread arrived in my heart.  _ Have i done the right thing? Will he come back? No…  _


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One week and it's time for the commandos to return, but will they return missing one member?

They had been away for a week, I tried to plot the course they made and made a guess estimate of where they were each day. Each day they got nearer the more my stomach hurt. 

 

I tried to pass the time by doing some chores around camp, assisting the colonel by fetching things to and fro. On the Wednesday we had an air raid and we all had to seek cover. The damage to the camp was minimal, but the town took most of the hit. Some shops, homes and pubs took the worst. 

 

If you've never been in an air raid shelter during a blitz, count yourself lucky! It's terrifying and you become acutely aware of what is separating you from being torn to pieces. Some inches of metal around you keeping you safe.  _ Inches.  _

The place shakes, your bones and teeth chatter. You hear the shrieking of the metal plummeting through the air down towards you and hear the collision with the earth nearby. The lights go out and you're left in the pitch black with the sounds, the ground vibrating and quaking beneath your feet. You grip onto the bench you're sat on with others calling out in the dark. But the bombs….the bombs drown them out. They drown everything out. And then, like a thunderstorm, it starts to pass and people begin to murmur and the lights slowly come back on. You all wait for the all-clear siren to whir into action. Breathing a sigh of relief when it does. 

 

But it doesn't end there. When you emerge from the bunker it hits you like a knife to the gut. The smell of burning metal and wood. The smoke and fire all around you, burning, churning upwards and upwards. You flinch when the siren of the fire bigrade ringing their bell comes hurtling towards you. You're ushered along back to where you need to go. You stumble around, looking at the hollowed out places that days, hours,  _ minutes  _ ago you had been in. Gone! Just flames and ash and debris all around you at your feet. 

 

Nothing in life is comparable than being in war. 

 

Maybe, possibly love as a close contender. 

 

By Friday I was finding it hard keeping it together. I had failed, I knew it, I felt it. I had failed them, I had failed them all. I was a fool. I stayed in bed that day and didn't dare emerge from under the covers. Peggy came to check on me and tried to rouse me from where I laid. But it didn't work, so she left me. She tried to make me believe that there was still hope. That I had done all I could, I had done the right thing. And that in times like this, we all need to hold on to hope. 

 

Her words most of sunk in overnight because when I awoke that Saturday morning, I felt in better spirits and went back to doing some odd jobs around camp. By early evening I felt jubilant and hopeful. There was something in the air. The smell of clean, freshly laundered linen mixed with the smell of the leaves from the nearby trees in the orange-tinted sky while the sunset behind me. I inhaled deeply,  _ yes, something good was coming.  _

 

The sheets that I was pinning up fluttered in the light breeze. I hadn't heard the jeep arrive back in camp and I hadn't seen a figure coming towards me. Till a hand cast the sheet before me back. 

 

The air stopped and was drawn from my chest.  _ Bucky. He was alive!  _ He raced the short space between us and I embraced him into my arms. He was alive! “It worked! It worked!” 

His arms loosened but only to lift me up into the air and twirl me around. “It was me! The man you told me I would save. It was me, wasn't it! Why didn't you say?!” He asked me breathlessly, taking in every inch of my face into his gaze. 

“I couldn't. There were too many variables and I didn't want anything to go wrong. Are you alright? Not injured?!” 

He smiled a warm smile and placed his hands on either side of my face and slid them back into the mass of my hair, his lips meeting mine he kissed me passionately, hungrily with such need. He groaned and pressed against me more, moving a hand to my back in a caress. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss and moved us towards the wall behind me, colliding with a small bump. My hands were up to his shoulders and I pushed him away, breaking the kiss. His eyes were bright and sparkling with desire. “Bucky...no...no….i'm sorry. I can't.”, I pleaded with him. He took a step away in confused embarrassment and looked at the ground, nodded his head a couple of times before looking back up at me. 

 

I was still against the wall with my hands raised to my shoulders. Slowly I let them fall down as I looked away to the side. Neither of us knew what to say. It was a spur of the moment. An outpouring of relief on both sides. It would be a lie if I said I hadn't been kissing him back. I had. But I didn't want him to misunderstand my feelings or intentions. I was there to set things right. Nothing more. I was there, for Steve. 

 

“Thank you”, he said softly, “I don't know what else to say, heh. Erm..is there anything I can do? For you?” 

I could tell he was burning up with embarrassment. 

“Take better care of yourself might be a good start”, I smiled and bit my lip. He laughed and nodded before turning to walk away, “I'll try that.” 

 

From inside his name was called and stepped inside to answer, but not before giving me a tight smile and a wave. I smiled back and quickly picked up the laundry baskets and scurried away. 

 

_ Well, this makes things awkward!  _

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cap arrives, but does he have enough time?

Steve arrived back in his old army camp during the second world war. It was strange and uncomfortable for him to be back. He felt burdened by the knowledge of what happened to Bucky, what happened with the Valkyrie and that Peggy was somewhere nearby, just as he remembered her.   
But he was there on a mission and couldn't allow himself the luxury of worrying about what he knew.  
If there was a chance of avenging his fallen friends, he was gonna take it!

"So this was the place, huh?", Nat remarked, surveying the lay of the land along with Clint, Thor and Scott.   
"Yep, this was the place", Steve sadly replied, keeping his head and eyes down low. This was not going to be easy. They needed to locate the Tesseract and take it back with them. Tony had branched off with another team, to locate the other stones. Once they had gathered all the stones, the plan was to create their own infinity stone gauntlet to go after Thanos and make him pay for what he had done.   
"Wow! So are the commandos here too? Oo, do we get to meet them?!", Scott was literally bouncing on the spot with excitement.   
"Probably, but we need to keep our minds focused on the mission. We're here to get the space stone and get back"  
"How do we start?", Nat inquired, feeling impatient. She couldn't wait to cut Thanos down to size for what happened. In the five years that came after that fateful day, Natasha couldn't settle, in her mind and heart, she felt she had failed. There was never a mission in which she had failed in before. And the fact she had, weighed her down inside. She looked to her best friend, Clint and saw the hollow emptiness in his eyes. He had lost his family to The Snap. Afterwards, he lost himself in work, killing himself inside day by day. She felt his pain even without him speaking about it. They were her family too. Her small space of normal, gone in a blink of an eye.   
"We need to get some transport and get over to the Hydra Camp Base. We should find what we're looking for there. C'mon, but keep your heads down and don't speak to any-"  
"-Steve?! What are you wearing?!"

Steve turned round to find a face he thought he would never see again, at least outside of old photographs. Bucky! "It's a...a… new suit design. I've got a couple of new recruits. I'm actually just taking them out for..err…", Steve slowly and unwillingly backed away from his dead best friend.   
"Target practise", Nat stepped forward with a bright smile. This was her forté, but not Steve's.   
"Right...It's just that I thought you already left. Is Li with you?", Bucky side stepped Nat to regard Steve with a quizzical look on his face. What he found was a look of confusion that gave way to a look of worry.  
"Li?... Short woman with red hair?", Steve asked, hoping for Bucky to be referring to someone else.  
"Yeah…", Bucky replied, looking at this friend up and down to check that this was really Steve in front of him. He seemed different, and not just because of the kooky outfit he was wearing. He looked like a character out of a science fiction novel. One set in the future… "You're Steve from the future aren't you?"  
"Oh no! Yes, I am. Oh no! No! Where did they go? How is she here?!", This set all of Steve's plans into disarray. This mission was going to be complicated and difficult enough without all this happening!   
"That makes sense. She fell through some "portal" and ended up here. She was wondering what was going to happen. Uh, we need to get you guys out there! Follow me, we were just setting out to meet up with the others. C'mon! Let's go!", Bucky waved them to follow as he ran over to the jeeps and trucks full of soldiers ready to go.

"Why is there? With the other me?", Steve turned to his friend as the jeep bumped along down the dirt roads.   
"She said she needed to be there. That she had to save someone."  
"...the train."  
"No, that's already happened. Something else. She was real excited about it. She said she was the only one who would know what to do. But she couldn't tell anyone in case of 'variables', whatever that means. But, we trust her because...well...she saved my life!"  
"You...Oh my God… I think I know what she's doing!", Steve staggered forward towards the driver and grabbed his shoulder "You need to go faster!"   
"Is she in trouble?!", Bucky called over to him as Steve slumped back onto his seat.  
"Big trouble!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A twist in the story, no one could see coming. Except Strange of course!

While Steve was rushing to save Li's life, Tony and company found themselves diverged from their intended destination.

Standing in front of them in an old but large estate house, was Dr Strange who greeted them cordially. "Hello and welcome to my secret sanctum, I assume you are here in your quest to beat the being known as Thanos, am I correct?"  
Tony gingerly stepped forward, completely confused by what was happening. Five years ago he had seen the man standing before him turn to ash. He stretched out his arm and gave the doctor an affirmative poke. "Ow."  
"How is this possible, I… we all saw you die. This has to be some kind of wacky trick…", Tony turned back to the others for their opinion, but they all looked just as confused as he did.   
"Yes and no. I'm from the future in this particular timeline. You see-"  
"-This particular time…", Tony interrupted.   
"Yes. There are many if you remember, I looked at all the various outcomes of what happened, to find a way for us to win. And I found one."  
"No, no you didn't! I had to watch a boy, a teenage boy who had a bright future in front of him, DIE IN FRONT OF MY EYES! WHILE HE TOLD ME IT WAS OKAY! WE...DID NOT WIN! WE LOST!", Tony stared Stephen down with an enraged fury. How dare he say, they won. "LOOK AGAIN! I think you'll see what I mean", he gave a harsh chuckle and gathered the other, motioning them to leave.  
"It's not finished yet. We are but halfway through to our victory. This didn't start with Thanos invading planet Earth. This started long before. The universe is in an unbalanced state of flux, this is what the mad titan saw. His 'genius' idea was to erase half the population of all life in the universe. Which has just tipped the balance MORE! I searched far and wide for an answer and found something...someone…"

Tony stopped at the door, "Who?" he asked half turning round.   
"Come with me and I will introduce you. We are nearly at the end now. It's not quite what you were expecting, but I think you will be pleasantly pleased with the outcome. Come…"   
Tony looked at his companions. The space racoon that called himself Rocket. Nebula who had suffered at the hand of the titan. Bruce...well Bruce had actually come out of this for the better. And Rhodey...he lost many people he cared about to, including some members of his family. He looked back at Tony and shrugged, "Let's go see what the magician has up his sleeve."  
"But we're supposed to get the stones, we had a plan", Tony hissed, keeping Dr Strange from hearing their conversation.   
"Tony...we still got the Pym particles. If this trick of his flops, we still got this. But if he manages to pull a rabbit outta his cape, this might be better. I say we see what he's got."   
Tony stood there letting the words his friend had just spoken sink in. "Alright. Show us the goods, Strange."

With a wave of his arms, the scenery around them changed. Instead of a marble floor, there was nothing but space. No walls, no ceiling. Nothing but stars and gas around them. They floated in the anti-gravity, but still, they could breathe. "Worry not, I have put a containment spell around us. It will prevent us from being separated and from the elements of space. Please listen, because I will not be repeating myself." 


End file.
